


Reunion: Abstract Reverie

by QueenyClairey



Series: Ficlet Instruments [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: AU universe, Alec observes, F/M, Ficletinstruments, Lost - Freeform, Love, M/M, Multiple Universes Colliding, Photo prompt, Reunion, True Love, Week 3: Abstract Reverie, lake, musings, separated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 12:24:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20082169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenyClairey/pseuds/QueenyClairey
Summary: Alec stares at the painting as he has done for years.Sometimes it changes.Today is the biggest change of all.A Clary/Jace reunion fic.





	Reunion: Abstract Reverie

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Painting: "Abstract Reverie" by Magdalena Morey.
> 
> This is my take on the picture prompt. It inspired so many thoughts I could have written many different stories, but this is the one that stuck, the one that sang to me. 
> 
> Make up your own mind about how this all came to be...I have my ideas...

Every time he looks, Alec sees something new. It’s like it constantly evolves: a new sweep of yellow at the edge of the lake, more white foam where the waterfall trickles down at the forefront of the picture, more ripples of movement on the still surface.

So when the figure begins to gradually appear, he’s not surprised. 

He asks Magnus, who was long ago gifted the painting by an old friend, but he doesn’t even blink. 

“That picture steals your attention from me far too often, I shall have it taken away.” The soft kisses on his neck draw Alec in and he forgets.

For a while.

When he stands in Magnus’ office, late one night, waiting while his husband finishes up some legal document or other, he sees the figure - an outline really - move. From the bottom left corner they point out a hand stretching it towards the lake. 

Alec watches in astonishment as an object floats over it, hovers for long seconds and then vanishes. 

He wants to tell Magnus, but his husband won’t believe in things like this. Laughs at any suggestion of the paranormal. Finds Alec’s own fascination confusing.

So he just watches quietly. 

He’s so engrossed in trying to make out the figure, who he believes is a man, that he misses the exact moment the swirling purple appears and an elderly woman steps out, corporeal in Magnus’ office. 

Greyed hair tangles around her shoulders, wrinkles, prominent lines, mark her face.

“My love!” she gasps out, looking not at Alec, but the picture behind him. 

Then her fingers are caressing the man in the picture, translucent skin sweeping over his shape. 

Alec’s jaw drops as the figure turns, face finally visible after so many months.

“Jace! At last, my love,” the sandpaper voice exclaims. 

Blue/brown eyes widen and then the man’s arms are reaching…

Before Alec’s eyes the grey haired woman melts into a red-headed girl, small and graceful, and she grasps the offered hand, thick with oil paint smears, and steps forward.

When she is sucked into the painting Alec doesn't even blink. 

But he watches their reunion with wiser eyes. 

The painted figures twirl together, the man lifting the woman high, before they climb up to the side of the azure lake. They seem to hover for a moment before they hit the water, fingers clasped tight. 

The splash leaves trails of royal purple down the edge of the picture and Alec reaches a finger out, wondering if it might feel different somehow.

But it’s just paint. A thick layer of oil paint. Dry as if it hasn’t just appeared. 

But Alec knows. 

It wasn’t there before. 

He wonders what other secrets the painting holds.

“Alexander, darling? Are you ready to go home?” Magnus asks, voice low and full of suggestion. 

Alec glances back at the painting one last time and smiles as the background swirls from morose grey to cheerful orange. 

“Yes,” he calls to his husband, “I’m ready now.”


End file.
